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Tag Archives: Saraswati

In the Tarot Wayang, Saraswati is associated with the Moon and changes, replacement, addition, subtraction and “inconstantly” which seem like words associated with the Moon and the intuitive qualities of The High Priestess.

The Hermit looks a tad unbalanced as if his feet were hurting or perhaps frozen and inflexible for walking. If you can see ahead of you, with lamp light or the light of the Moon, but your feet aren’t working, perhaps it’s a good day to rest? Or maybe your feet hurt but you carry on following where the light leads?

The wisdom to know: addition, subtraction black or white, things are either this or that, but really it’s all the same. The moon is the moon whether it’s going through a phase where you see a quarter of it or the full moon. “Every extreme carries its opposite embedded in it” says James Ricklef.

I like that idea, as if within joy you carry sadness, within depression you carry the ability to be energized and work and be happy. The Hermit goes within and it’s not loneliness it’s solitude, which also carries expansiveness. I think that’s the idea today, that duality is only a feeling and the whole thing is with you all the time.

It’s that kind of day, full of mythology and music. I was speaking to someone about the Muses and the tie-in to creativity. The Muses I discovered through my card collection and subsequent purchases of attendant books.

Someone then mentioned the Hindu goddess Saraswati (also spelled Sarasvati), and how she is linked to libraries, learning, science, and music. Naturally I had to explore my deck collection to find her. I’ve seen her many times and never made the connection, but in thinking about her in relation to Greek mythology and the Muses she leaps out at me, she is a muse.

I wondered why Saraswati is sometimes depicted with a peacock and sometimes a swan. According to my book Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend it is a hamsa not a swan. The hamsa is a goose (Anser indicus) also known as the bar-headed goose, and is often translated as “swan.” Brahma rides a hamsa, and Saraswati is his wife so that’s probably why she is sometimes shown with a hamsa.

I like the peacock myself and it reminds me of The Chariot that I recently discussed when exploring attractive cards in the new Tarot of Pagan Cats deck.

I scanned these in and then left them sitting in a row on my ironing board in an effort to change the vibe in my mind. Because of her association with music, every time I heard a song on the radio that I liked I made a note of it to see if there were videos at YouTube for them.

Here is another piece of music I’ve been wanting to track down for ages. This is so hauntingly beautiful it makes me sick. Yeah, one of those. I don’t usually like ballad type songs but this is an instrumental that has an edge to it. It’s so hauntingly sad.

I’ve heard this next one a couple of times on the radio. It’s one of those things where you head snaps up and you think “What is THAT?” This fellow is from Hawaii, quite an imposing man. I didn’t realize he was dead, he died from his obesity. It seems the world discovered Iz after he died. What a loss. This song was released in 1993 and has been featured in movies, but it’s new to me. Yowza, it’s a big wide world full of music I’ve never heard. If this doesn’t make you cry, you are dead.

I thought The Moon Song he did on an album with Charlie Haden was great too. Oh man, this takes me back to 1999. I used to listen to this over and over. It’s one of the most beautiful pieces of music in the wonderful world. Just keep playing it over and over and look out at the night sky.